The inside story on this Honda HRC VF750 Race Bike!
This amazing piece of history was on display at this year's festival. It's owned by our good friend Gilles, who acquired it in 2014 from a collector. The bike is fully documented and has been featured in a number of articles over the years. It's our understanding that only a few of these HRC Vintage Super Bikes remain from the original lot built in Japan by HRC, which has been said to be around 12 bikes. A couple of them were destroyed in fires from race crashes and the majority of them were sent back to Japan where the frames were crushed. This is a real find and as you can see in the photo's, it is a gorgeous bike. I had the pleasure to ride it around the paddock for a few rounds and the sound of the engine is unique and the riding position was comfortable.
Here is the quick story on it's history, it was raced back in 83/84 by Sam McDonald who raced for Honda America and at the end of the season, Sam had signed with another race team, which meant there was a spare bike kicking around Honda America. Back in the UK, Honda Britain was getting ready for upcoming season and was going to be sponsored by Rothman's for the coming new year. The team was just waiting for their new crop of Honda NS500's which had not arrived yet so with that said, Ron Haslam, Honda Britain's top rider approached the team manager and asked if he could do Daytona. One thing led to another and with a spare bike in the US available to Ron to ride at Daytona and it was a done deal. Ron also arranged for one of their mechanics to accompany him to America. It was George Dziedzic who would be joining Ron and bring along some spare parts including the required parts to convert a VF750 over to a right hand shift as per Ron's requirements along with some tools and off they went to America to Daytona.
Upon arrival at Daytona, they learned they would be sharing the garage with Wes Cooley and his crew. The big surprise came when they entered the garage area only to learn that the bike Ron was going to riding was scattered all over the garage in parts. They found a freshly built engine sitting at one end and the frame at the other end of the garage area. George realized he would have his work cut out for him and he immediately started to gather up whatever he could and while taking a quick inventory, he realized that quite a few key parts were no where to be found in the garage.
Thankfully parked outside the garage area was the Honda America Parts Trailer that would have everything needed to put this VF750 back together so Ron could run Daytona. There was one small issue though, no account number = no parts! I guess you could say that it may have been some divine intervention as magically an account number, shall we say that was made available allowing George to pick up everything he would need from the Honda America / HRC Parts Truck, what an absolute stroke of pure luck!
With George's nose to the grind stone and with some real welcome help from Wes Cooley's Mechanics, the bike was put back together. A sign painter hand painted "Rocket Ron" on the front fairing, the bike was ready to test out.
Word has it that Ron and George spoke with the Honda America Team Mgr. Steve McLaughlin about wanting to run the bike before things got underway at Daytona. I think it was Steve who came up with the idea of testing it out on a highway. So early the next morning and basically under the cover of dark, the HRC VF750 was unloaded from a van on a quiet stretch of Florida highway, George was able to give the VF 750 a good couple of runs up and down the highway as the sun was starting to come up. It ran well and back in the van it was loaded up and the rest is history.
Ron Haslam finished 4th at Daytona in 85 and who knows, if they just had some more time at hand, a podium finish may have been in the cards in 1985. But you have to admit, that after hearing this great story, it was an amazing outcome that Ron was able finished 4th at Datona which would have not been possible without all the help and determination of his dedicated Mechanic Mr. George Dziedzic. It's a great story and after riding the bike myself around the paddock for a few rounds, it had my blood flowing with visions of riding this beast on the track & winding it out on the back straight. Thanks and I hope you really enjoyed reading the inside story & viewing photo's on this Factory HRC Machine!
VSB Moto August 2016
